2LT International News

WASHINGTON D.C.: The US House of Representatives has approved Republican legislation aimed at stopping immigrants and illegal drugs from crossing the US southwest border with Mexico.

The House voted 219-213 to pass the bill, with no Democrats in favor and one Republican opposed.

Republicans in the Senate will now attempt to pass a broader, bipartisan immigration bill, which Democrats have warned they will block.

The package will establish tough restrictions on asylum seekers and require them to apply for US protection outside the country, as well as resume construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border.

During the debate on the bill, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan said, “The key component of this bill is where we say, ‘If you come to our country, you will get to, according to the law, file your asylum claim, but you will be detained or you will be returned while your claim is adjudicated’.”

The vote coincided with the end of the Title 42 immigration restriction launched under former President Donald Trump in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed US authorities to expel migrants to Mexico without giving them the opportunity to seek asylum, on the grounds of health concerns.

Officials at the southwestern border were seeing large influxes of immigrants before the end of Title 42.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, senior Democrat on the Judiciary panel, said,

“This bill serves as a wholesale ban on asylum. No one would be able to seek asylum in the US if they cross between ports of entry or if they had or could have had even temporary status in a third country,” he added.

Although the House bill is not expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden, its proponents in the Senate hope that it will spark negotiations for a bipartisan, comprehensive border security and immigration reform measure in the coming months.